The Philippines is a World Power

> From: Pete Lacaba
> Subject: [plaridel] We are a world power!
>
> Believe it or not, the Philippines is a world power--at least in the
> movie business.

> The special edition of Newsweek magazine dated December 2003-February
> 2004, on the subject of "Power: Who's Got It Now," has a centerfold
> that lists the top 10 most powerful nation-states in various
> categories, such as Economic Power, Diplomatic Power, and Social
> Power. The Philippines appears in just one list, Movie Power. There
> are three areas in this category--Movie Tickets Sold Per Year, in
> millions of dollars; Film Investment, again in millions of dollars;
> and Feature-Film Production, in number of films produced per year. It
> is  in the area of Feature-Film Production that the Philippines ranks
> No. 9.
>
> The Newsweek list (with number of films produced per year):
>
> 1. India (1,200)
> 2. United States (543)
> 3. Japan (293)
> 4. France (200)
> 5. Spain (137)
> 6. Italy (130)
> 7. Germany (116)
> 8. China (100)
> 9. Philippines (96)
> 10. Hong Kong (92)
>
> And to think that the movie industry went through a slump last year!
> (In the 1960s, we were producing about 250 films a year, which would
> probably have placed us just behind India and the United States.)